A conventional reel body of a double bearing reel has a shape in which a portion of the reel body protrudes forward in order to place a level wind device between side plates situated in front of a spool (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Application Publication Sho. 60-49772 (the “772 Publication”)). The level wind device is provided for winding a fishing line in parallel on the spool. The left and right side plates of the reel body are formed by attaching outer plates (also referred to as a cover body) on an outer side of a frame plate (also referred to as an inner plate) of a frame. Various components including a winding operation mechanism are placed in a space between the frame plate of the frame and the outer plates.
Recently fishing using lures such as a metal jig and a lubber jig (also referred to as jigging) is performed and the above-described double bearing reel is used for jigging. When the jigging is performed using a double-bearing reel, an angler holds both a fishing rod and a reel body, repeatedly jerks the rod, and winds a line with a handle. Moreover, a jigging angler tends to operate the rod intensely when fighting fish that bites a lure. Therefore it is preferable that the angler can securely hold the reel body and the angler feel less stress even he/she uses the reel for a long period of time.
In this regard, the double bearing reel having the shape disclosed in the “772 Publication” has a protrusion on a side plate situated further from a handle of the reel body so that when an angler do fishing with such a reel, unnecessary movements of a hand of the angler is restricted by the protrusion. However, the holding position and state of the angler is fixed by the protrusion. More specifically, the hand placed on the side situated further from the handle cannot move freely so that the angler is forced to hold the reel and rod tightly during jerking the rod and fighting fish for a long period of time, and consequently the angler may feel pain in hand, which may affect the angler's ability to operate the rod. Meanwhile, it is desired to allow a large amount of fish line to be wound around a spool. However, if the diameter of the spool is increased in order to increase the amount of fish line wound on the spool, the length of the side plate in the front-rear direction is also increased. Consequently a grip performance of the spool may be deteriorated and the weight of the spool is increased.
In order to overcome the above-mentioned problem, developed is a double-bearing reel in which the side plate situated further from the handle is formed in a circular shape as viewed laterally and a level-wind device is not provided (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-173520 (the “'520 Publication”)). When the side plate situated further from the handle is formed in a circular shape, an angler can move their hand to a different position as necessary while holding the reel with the hand. In this way, operability of the rod when jigging can be improved. Moreover, in the example disclosed in the '520 Publication, a large drive gear is used to wind a line efficiently by a handle. A portion of the side plate provided closer to the handle is not formed in a complete circular shape but has an expanded portion and a portion of the drive gear is provided therein. In this manner, increase of the weight of the reel body is prevented as much as possible.
The double bearing reel as disclosed in the '520 Publication often has a reel body 1 in which an outer diameter of the side plate situated closer to the handle is larger than an outer diameter of the side plate situated further from the handle in order to fit the large drive gear on the side plate situated closer to the handle. More specifically, a winding operation mechanism that transmits a rotational drive force of the handle to a spool, a drag mechanism, a clutch mechanism and the like are placed under the side plate situated closer to the handle. In this case, a connecting member that axially connects the side plate situated closer to the handle and the side plate situated further from the handle generally has a smaller thickness on a side of the side plate situated further from the handle due to the difference in the outer diameter between these side plates and in order to secure a space for a desired outer diameter of the spool (a desired amount of line wound on the spool) placed between the side plates. The smaller thickness of the connecting portion means that the connecting member has a lower rigidity in that portion and this may be a problem in securing a required strength.
Moreover, when an angler uses the double bearing reel without the level wind device as disclosed in the '520 Publication, the angler firstly holds a fishing rod by placing his/her hand on the outer surface of the side plate in the reel body situated further from the handle and placing a thumb pad of the hand on an peripheral edge of the side plate. When the angler tries to wind a fishing line on the spool, the angler moves his/her thumb over the connecting member situated in front of the spool and then moves the thumb left and right along the connecting member to guide the fishing line passing on the connecting member such that the line is uniformly wound (wound in parallel) on the spool. However, in the double bearing reel disclosed in the '520 Publication, the connecting member is formed simply as a pillar that has a substantially rectangular cuboid shape extending in the axial direction. Therefore when an angler moves the thumb from the peripheral edge of the side plate to the connecting member in front of the spool, the thumb may slip during the displacement of the thumb due to a steep drop. In this case, the angler may fail to smoothly transition to a fishing-line guide operation to wind the line on the spool in parallel as retaining the line stably and may fail to securely perform the guide operation.